"Will you let me mark you tonight? Or do you want some time to get used to the idea first?"
"Marking?! What's marking?! Axel?!" Nathan panicked.
[Calm down. I'll explain but he's waiting for an answer. You should tell him you want to wait for a few days.]
Nathan looked up at the dragon who's lap he was sitting in. "Axel advised that we wait a little bit. Just a few days."
"Alright. We'll wait a few days."
Nathan sighed in relief. "Thank you."
"Anything for you."
Nathan was surprised when Axel took over just enough to cause a low, rumbling purr in his chest.
[Perfect mate material.]
As Nathan continued to purr, he could hear a low rumbling start in Griffin's chest right under his ear.
"I didn't know dragons can purr," he said in amusement.
Griffin chuckled. "Honestly, I didn't either. Kael started it."
Nathan started laughing too. "Axel started mine. I think our other halves like the bond."
Right as he finished speaking, a new rumble erupted, but this one from his stomach.
Griffin almost dropped him, he was laughing so hard. "I guess I better get dinner started."
"Well… we did skip lunch."
"True. Want to help?"
"Absolutely," Nathan said enthusiastically.
Together they left the bedroom to start dinner.
**********
Next Morning
Nathan got up early to go for a run. "So, mating expert, what's marking?" He asked Axel.
Axel sighed. [I'm no expert, I'm just following instincts. Marking binds your soul to another.]
"Thank you for being vague. Why is it called marking? How does it work?"
Axel waited to answer so he wouldn't shock Nathan so much he fell from the rock formation he was climbing over.
[Do you remember the marks on your parents' necks?]
Nathan slowed down as he came up on the small lake near his old cave.
"Mmm. A little. They were bite marks, right?"
[Yes they were. Those were mating marks.]
Nathan froze in his tracks so fast he almost slid right into the water. "WHAT?!?! I thought those were from a fight! Griffin has to bite me hard enough to leave scars?!"
He panicked so much, he was tempted to start running and never stop.
[Calm down, spaz. I'm not gonna lie to you and say it won't hurt at all. It will, but only for a second. And you get to do the same thing to him.]
Nathan almost started crying. "I don't want it to hurt. Or to hurt him. Isn't there another way to do this?"
[No. Unless you want to reject him and break the bond between you two. I can guarantee that'll hurt even more though.]
"I don't want it to hurt at all," Nathan whined as he flopped to the ground.
He laid there for close to an hour before he distantly heard his name being called.
"Nate! It's time to eat! Where'd you go?"
Griffin was looking for him, not happy about the wolf being gone before he even woke up.
Nathan stood before shaking out his coat. He trotted to where he could hear the dragon stomping around. As he got closer he shifted back to human so he could talk, happy that as he learned to shift more easily he was able to figure out how to keep his clothes on and intact. They hadn't had a chance to go to town yet so he was still relying on Griffin's old clothes and didn't want to destroy them all or strip down to shift.
"I'm here," he called out.
Griffin closed in on him quickly before wrapping him up in a tight hug.
"I was worried," he breathed. "Normally you wait for me to wake up before you go out. I almost thought you'd left."
Nathan patted his back as best he could. "I'm sorry. I was restless and Axel wanted to go for a run. I didn't mean to scare you."
Griffin didn't say anything, just tightened his grip briefly before letting go. "Come one, let's go have breakfast."